"Ah, it's been a long day!" Berry exclaimed as he threw himself onto the bed, limbs spread out. They had just come back from the hospital, and he felt like he had been working all day, even though all he did was sleeping and talking at some point. But who knew those things could be tiring? When he did not hear anything from Stuart after a long time, he raised his head slightly to look at him, only to see Stuart standing with his arms crossed, staring at him. "What? Are you not tired?"
Stuart only shook his head. This was a normal thing for him, working from morning until it was dark at night, and sometimes he would work the whole night. "I'm not tired."
"Well, you have so much energy, I must say. I feel like I've been run over by a train twice!" Stuart chuckled lightly, knowing very well that Berry was only exaggerating. But from Berry's face, he did look very tired.
"I will take a bath first, you can rest. I will wake you up when I come out," Stuart said as he began to take off his clothes. To his surprise, Berry, half-asleep, stood up and began to take off his clothes too.
"Let's take a bath together. It will save time." Before Stuart could protest or say anything to dissuade Berry, he was already stumbling into the bathroom, bare as the day he was born, with his milky white cheeks on full display. Stuart was speechless. Was Berry not supposed to be tired? What was this then?
That was what he was thinking before he remembered that Berry only wanted to take a bath and nothing else. He must be the only one having dirty thoughts, since Berry was already half-asleep. He shook his head, trying to get rid of his dirty thoughts while trying to think of other things. This made him take a while to remove his clothes, and Berry was already calling out his name from inside the bathroom.
With a gulp, he finished taking off his clothes and entered the bathroom, where he saw Berry trying to turn on the shower. It was inbuilt into the roof of the bathroom, and since this was Berry's first time in the bathroom, it was quite difficult to turn on the shower due to its confusing design. While he was fiddling with it, the shower unexpectedly turned on, and since Berry was under it, he was bathed with cold water.
Like a cat whose tail has been stepped on, he squeaked and jumped away from it, almost colliding with Stuart, who was trying to hold in his laughter. "What are you laughing at? Shit! Why is the water so cold?" Berry questioned, slightly upset that Stuart was finding amusement in his misery. He was still shivering from the cold, with his hand wrapped around his shoulders trying to warm himself up.
With a smile, Stuart walked over and stood directly under the shower, where he easily turned it on, and hot water began to flow. He beckoned Berry over, but the man was too traumatized to get under the shower again, so he hesitated and shook his head. "Come on. It's not so cold anymore, see?" Stuart gathered some of the water in his hand and threw it at Berry, who wanted to avoid it but failed. The warm water touched his skin, an instant relief from the cold he was feeling. That was enough to ease his wariness, so he went under the shower again and sighed when the water touched his body.
"Ahhhh," he sighed, feeling like he was in heaven. For someone who hated the cold, this shower of warm water made him happy and extremely comfortable. He even forgot the person with him as he began to twist his body from side to side with a contented smile on his face.
Stuart was left staring, his mouth hanging open as he witnessed the pure bliss on Berry's face. He was starting to feel really uncomfortable in his lower half as he watched the water pouring and gliding down Berry's smooth skin. He badly wanted to touch him, but a part of him told him that one thing would lead to another, and then Berry might get scared and think he only wanted him for bedroom activities, which might cause a problem. Maybe he was overthinking, but he would rather keep his hands to himself than start something he thinks might be an issue.
"...umm Berry," Stuart called lightly, and Berry responded with a small hum, opening his eyes to look at Stuart. If he was going to avoid doing this, he deduced that talking was the right way to go about it. "I have to go on a business trip in two days, and it's going to last for about a month…" he paused as Berry's eyes widened then relaxed as if urging him to continue, "since it's going to be a long time, I was thinking of taking you with me. But you don't have to come if you have work to do here. So will you come with me?" He asked, slightly nervous, not knowing what to expect from Berry. His face was unreadable, and his eyes were fixed on the wall behind Stuart.
"The last time I went into your kitchen, there were knives of different sizes in there. Take one of them and stab me with it if I ever say no to that question." Stuart was speechless as he flew into a laughing fit. Berry laughed along with him because even he knew that he was being unnecessary.
"A simple 'yes, I will' would have been fine. Was there any need for you to get so serious?" Stuart said in between uncontrollable laughter.
The two of them joked around and laughed, resulting in them staying longer than necessary in the bathroom. When they came out, they were both tired and sleepy. Berry wore Stuart's clothes since he had nothing else to wear. After drying his hair, he dived into the bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Stuart smiled at the sleeping figure curled up in the bed before lying down next to Berry. After kissing Berry's hair, he drew the blanket over them, turned off the lights, and also drifted into dreamland.